Southern Star Entertainment (Australia)
Logo descriptions by Gene Snitsky and Matt Williams ''Logo captures by Eric S., Mr. Logo Lord and V of Doom ' Editions by Mr. Logo Lord, V of Doom, Shadeed A. Kelly, ''WileE2005, Hoa, Bob Fish and ''sega3dmm 1st Logo (1985-1989) Nicknames: "Lightning Star", "Cheesy Lightning", "The Thunderclap", "Bad Weather in Space", "(The Other) Thunder from Hell", "It's Raining!", "A Southern Thunderclap from Australia," "The Australian Swirling Star" Logo: On a blue space background, a magenta star quickly zooms out. It plasters itself firmly at the center of the screen, while a yellow lightning bolt slides in from the top-left behind the star, landing so that the star is in the middle of the lightning bolt. The star rotates a little as the bolt moves to the middle The screen flashes white a few times at high speed, changing the star to blue and the bolt to gray, and two rectangles slide in from the top and bottom of the screen, behind the star and lightning bolt, the top one yellow, the bottom one magenta. When they connect with each other, the colors suddenly swap so that the top one is magenta and the bottom one is yellow. In the magenta rectangle, to the right of the star/bolt shape, is "A SOUTHERN STAR" in a yellow-colored thinItalic ''font (usually Futura), and in the yellow bottom rectangle is "Hanna-Barbera Australia Production" in magenta and the font normally used for "Hanna-Barbera Productions" on the 1979 H-B Swirling Star logo. Variants: *On ''The Berenstain Bears, ''a copyright for the Taft-Hardie Group Pty. Limited appears under the logo. The copyright stamp appears in black or pink, depending on the episode, although sometimes a chyroned-in copyright stamp may appear. The stamp may also last the entire duration of the logo. *On ''Teen Wolf and CBS Storybreak, the star zooming out is cut, so that it starts on the bolt sliding into shape. *Late in this logo's life, a variant was seen omitting all mentions of Hanna-Barbera, and had "SOUTHERN STAR PRODUCTIONS" in place of the original name, in a different font. Also, the yellow and purple colors do not switch positions at the end, but shown darker. It additionally lacks the copyright. This variant was introduced in late 1987, when Southern Star became an independent company, having previously been owned by Hanna-Barbera and Taft. FX/SFX: The star zooming out, the bolt, the rapid flashing, and the rectangles. Cheesy Factor: Very poor Scanimate/80s computer effects abound. The star zooming out is cheesy, the animation for the bolt is too simple, the flashing is seizure-inducing and just plain awful, the thunderclap goes insane with pitch and it blends in horribly with the end theme, and the sudden swapping colors for the star-bolt and rectangle is very cheesy too. Music/Sounds: The ending of the show's theme, but with a very loud thunderclap sound effect (not sampled from Hanna-Barbera's sound library) edited in with the flash, nearly drowning out the music. On the first season of Teen Wolf, some Berenstain Bears episodes and three CBS Storybreak episodes, there is no thunder crashing. The thunderclap sound was sped up beginning in 1986. This version can be heard on the second seasons of The Berenstain Bears, Teen Wolf ''and on later episodes of ''CBS Storybreak. One 1986 episode of The Berenstain Bears had a completely different, sped-up lightning strike sound, another had the regular thunderclap played at normal speed like in the 1985 version, the other had no sound in the logo and the other one had a poorly-mixed thunderclap. Availability: The logo was seen on the original Berenstain Bears ''cartoon, as well as the animated ''Teen Wolf (a few VHS tapes of this series have no logos) and later episodes of CBS Storybreak (''earlier episodes only had a credit for Hanna-Barbera Australia, followed by the CBS Entertainment Productions logo). On reruns of ''The Berenstain Bears, in DiC's syndicated programming package from 2003 to 2006, it was plastered by "The Incredible World of DiC" and the 1994-2005 Southern Star logo. The logo has been preserved on the recent Berenstain Bears DVDs from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (followed by the Sony Pictures Television logo), and can also be found on the 1990s Berenstain Bears videos from Random House Home Video and Columbia TriStar Home Video. Scare Factor: Medium. The sudden "thunder" effect and flashing may scare more than a few. Minimal for the version with no thunderclap but the flashing can still get to some. Note: From here on, Southern Star became an independent company from Hanna-Barbera. 2nd Logo (1989-1994) Logo: On a starfield background, we see 2 sets of numerous lines move to the center to merge and form a turquoise star. The name SOUTHERN STAR appears below, with an underline colored in the same color as the star. FX/SFX: The lines move. Music/Sounds: A space sounder, with twinkling sounds and a "whoosh" at the beginning. Availability: Was seen on the first season of Blue Heelers. Scare Factor: Minimal. 3rd Logo (1994-2005) Nickname: "The Segmented Star" Logo: On a black background, we see 2 sets of 9 blue lines curve toward the center to form one set. As this happens, a light appears, and a 7-pointed segmented blue star is formed by the lines. SOUTHERN S T A R with a blue line underneath, is formed below. Variant: A still variant exists, as well as international version with SALES below. FX/SFX: The formation of the star and company name. Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo, but sightly re-arranged. Availability: Seen on 1990s prints of Skippy, as well as Blue Heeler, and early seasons of McLeod's Daughters when they run on air. Scare Factor: Low. This logo is much better than the first. 4th Logo (2005- ) Logo: Against a dark blue starry sky with mountains below, we see stars forming several ring shapes, causing the Southern Star logo from before, but in a blue tint, to blur in. Copyright info is shown just below it. The sky darkens around it. FX/SFX: The stars forming the company logo, the darkening sky. Music/Sounds: A gentle synth sounder with some "whooshes". Availability: Currently in use. It's seen on RAGGS Kids Club Band on select PBS stations. Scare Factor: None. Category:Logos